Piedmont Literary Wins Region and State

Piedmont Academy’s literary and music team recently took top honors at the GISA AA State and the Region 4AA competitions which involve 14 events of writing, acting, speaking, singing and playing the piano.

The region event was held on Friday, March 13, at Brewton Parker College, and the most recent win represents the first region championship for the literary team since 2012. The state event was held on Wednesday, March 25, at Valdosta State University, and this represents the school’s six state championship in this event.

Andrew Mitchell, a senior, competed in argumentative essay where he placed first at region and state for his essays on the topic of mandatory voting in elections in the United States and on the topic of banning cigarette smoking.

For the fourth year in a row, Mr. Mitchell placed first in international extemporaneous speaking at region competition for his presentation about the possibility of a new cold war. He also successfully defended his two previous state titles with his speech about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Building on his experience with five years participating in the spelling bee, freshman Kevin Davis won first in the spelling category by correctly spelling 73 out of 100 difficult words, and he improved at state by spelling 74 words correctly, beating his competition by more than ten words, and claiming the state championship.

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Chris McClain, a sophomore, finished second in US (domestic) Extemporaneous Speaking for his presentation on the cyber-attacks on Sony Pictures and the studio’s decision to release the movie “The Interview.” At state competition, however, Mr. McClain won the state championship in his event for his speech on the Affordable Care Act.

Also receiving top region honors was junior Steve Martin who competed in the dramatic interpretation category and performed a selection from “Down Came the Rain” by Burgess Clark. At state competition Mr. Martin finished in third place.

Mr. Martin and his partner, sophomore Will Tillman, won the duo interpretation category at region and placed second at state for their performance of a portion of Jonathan Rand’s short play “Action News: Now With 10% More Action.”

Additionally Mr. Tillman successfully defended his region titles in the humorous interpretation category by performing five sections from “The Ten Best Worst Things About High School” by M.G. Davidson. He placed third at state competition.

Competing for the first time on the spring literary team, freshman Jackson Waddleton placed second in Rhetorical Essay for his analysis of a selection from Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, and he finished second at state for his analysis of a selection of All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren.

Senior Cameron Hallman earned second place honors in the Personal Essay category for her description of her experience in overcoming her fear of public speaking. She also represented the school well at state competition for her essay about how her friends would describe her.

Freshman Sara Hammonds placed first in the piano category for her performance of Beethoven’s “Für Elise” and “To a Wild Rose” by MacDowell. Amid strong competition at state, she missed finishing in the top four by only one point.

Placing third in boy’s solo, freshman Gabriel Courtman sang “Proud of Your Boy” from Aladdin by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken and “O cessate di piagarmi” by Alessandro Scarlatti.

Mr. Courtman is also a member of the boys’ quartet with Mr. Martin and with seniors Owen Kimball and Chase Olson. This group performed “Till the Stars Fall from the Sky” arranged by Jay Althouse and “Walk Like a Man” arranged by Kirby Shaw. The quartet placed second at region and third at state.

Singing “I Give You a Song” by Amy Bernon and “Ain’t Misbehavin’” arranged by Larry Shackley,” the trio composed of junior Morgan Leach and freshmen Anne Marie Hildebrant and Emma Kate Edmonds finished in third place for their region performance.

Miss Leach also finished third in girl’s solo for her performance of “Porque toco el pandero” by Joaqu’n Rodrigo and “The Lord is My Shepherd” by Peter Tchaikovsky.

Supporting his team members at the region competition was US Extemporaneous speaking alternate Nick Maynard, a sophomore.

Each student who placed fourth or higher received points toward a team trophy, and Piedmont came in first place with 78 points, ahead of first runner-up Brentwood School of Sandersville with 72 points. These schools beat out second runner-up Briarwood Academy which had 36 points.

At state competition, these same schools finished in the same placement with Piedmont winning first with 47 team points, Brentwood with 36, and Briarwood with 22.

Ms. Bobbi Sauls is the head literary coach who is in charge of the speaking and acting events. This most recent spring literary team championship represents the third state title for Ms. Sauls and her 12th overall title in one-act play, debate, and spring literary.

Mrs. April Allen coached the music events, Mrs. Angie Marks coached the rhetorical analysis essay, and Mrs. Leslie White coached the argumentative and personal essayists. Mrs. Jackie Tarrah was the accompanist for the singing events.

Fine Arts Society officer and Piedmont teacher Mrs. Mary Ramsdell accompanied the group to region and monitored several events. Also supporting the students and coaches and monitoring events at region competition were Piedmont staff members Mrs. Traci Brady, Mrs. Alison Hildebrant, and Mrs. Judy Nelson.

Parents LeAnn Davis and David Leach also offered their support at region competition. Parents traveling to state and transporting students included Laura House, Mary Ramsdell, and Nikki Waddleton.